Conclusions to the Inquiry Process

 

     At the beginning of this class, I did not know what action research was.  This course has taught me in depth about the process of inquiry.  I have learned about this process through readings, discussions, and bloggs.  I plan to show what I have learned through not only my action research project, but also throughout my job. 

     There are several items about the process of inquiry that stand out as important, but reflection and self-assessment are two items at the top of my list.  By reflecting on my assignments, I am able to recall that Action research is the process of self-assessment that a principal or administrator uses to better himself or herself and his or her school.  It is very effective because it allows the leader to designate a time to reflect on the decisions that have been made while leading.  This gives the administrator the ability to evaluate whether the decisions made are benefiting the school and the work environment, or if another direction is necessary.  Dana defines administrative inquiry as, “the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of inquiry.” (2)  When a principal is engaging in action research, he or she is posing questions, analyzing data, and reading relevant literature. In addition, the principal is making changes when and where it is necessary and sharing that information with peers. (Dana 2-3)

     My action research topic deals with parental involvement.  I have had several meetings with both the junior high and high school principals at my school, and they both agree that we need more parent involvement.  I am hoping that my inquiry will allow us to find ways to gain parental involvement from parents of at-risk students in order to improve academic and behavioral success.  I have shared that our school is working hard to improve this situation, and I believe that the development of my action research plan will provide some answers to allow us to achieve this goal. 

     Two strategies that I plan on using during my action research are the Force Field Analysis and the Delphi Method that is discussed in the Harris text.  I am excited about the results that the Delphi Method might provide because it will allow me to survey teachers in a safe environment.  Because this method provides a level of confidentiality, the parents can be share openly about reasons they don’t get involved in the education of their children.  (Harris, 95)

     The discussion board and blogging have also provided a great opportunity to learn.  I have enjoyed getting to know my peers and their thoughts about my inquiry.  This experience has changed my perception about the use of networking and peer reflection.  I am certainly less apprehensive about sharing, and I actually look forward to the constructive advice and communication of my colleagues.

  Reflecting on the knowledge that I have gained from this course has allowed me to organize my thoughts and formulate a plan to efficiently carry out my inquiry on parental involvement.  I feel much more comfortable about my inquiry and look forward to using this process in all areas of my job.

Action Research - Reflection

     This week has been a time of reflection.  The Harris text has offered a tool or strategy known as the Delphi Method that I am excited to used.  I think that it will provide some great insight to how parents really feel about our school culture.  As for my action research plan, I have no revisions at this time.  I believe that after discussing my plan with experienced administrators and reflecting on the feedback from the discussion board and blog, I feel as if I am on the right track.  Gaining parental involvement from at-risk students seems to be a problem that most schools deal with.  I only hope that my inquiry will result in finding effective strategies to help with this topic.

Action Research - The Heart of It

     Now it is all coming together.  The action planning template has allowed me to see a descriptive outline of what needs to be done.  The template has forced me analyze the goal, steps, timeline, resources, and evaluation process so that I have data to support the needs of the process.  My inquiry project deals with increasing parental involvement in the school system.  The purpose is to build a better working relationship between parents and school staff, in an attempt to create a better learning environment and culture for our school.  The difficult part is knowing if the plan will lead me in the right direction.  I feel as though I have acquired the knowledge and put together a plan that will allow myself to complete a successful and informative journey through action research.  The following is my template and overview.   
 

Action Planning Template
Goal: Increase parental involvement, improve at risk student performance
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Analyze & Evaluate new programs that have been added to improve parental involvement (online grades, surveys, title 1 documentation)	Principal of hs-Kurt Ashmore, principal of jh – Tim Webb, councilor – Ranessa Klink, teachers,& myself	Added programs from 2010/2011 school year and 2011/2012 school year.  Research dates are 9-1-11 until 10-31-12	Title 1 parent documentation, List of newly implemented programs for parental involvement	parent surveys, teacher surveys, collaboration with administration, teachers, parents, & myself
JH science class will perform parent/student energy project	Jamie Richardson who is 7th & 8th grade science teacher, Parents, students, and myself	Months of Oct, Nov, & Dec	Parents have to share the amount of energy used on electric, gas, & water – goal is educate households on energy usage and improve parental involvement.	Analyze data from the project, People responsible are Jamie Richardson and myself
Title I Parent Meeting and Parents night	Principal of HS-Kurt Ashmore, Principal of JH-Tim Webb & myself	October 4th, This is when we will pass out report cards	Parents, Teachers, Adminstration, Report Cards, Documentation of concerns	Parents and teachers will discuss the progress of the students and things that parents can do to help students education.
Parent Meeting for girls in athletics                          Compare results of parents attending school meetings and activities by using the Alert Now Calling Service that has been purchased	Myself and Shannon Brown and Amy Inman who are my assistant coaches                           Administration, Teaching staff, myself	October 22,  Cover expectations of girl athletes after first after school basketball practice                       2011/2012 school year	Parents, Coaches, copy of UIL rules and program rules                          Alert Now Calling Service, Administration, Parents, School Activities	Coaching staff will evaluate the progress of meeting                           Administrators, Teaching staff, & myself will collaborated to evaluate and compare this years results

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

 

Action Research Project

Process Overview

Increasing Parental Involvement

1.  Setting the Foundation – Through meetings with my site supervisors (Kurt Ashmore, Tim Webb) and interviewing several teachers, parental involvement is an issue that we need to improve.  It is believed that improvement in this area will create a better culture among community stakeholders, improve students’ grades, improve students’ behavior, and students’ attendance. 

2.  Analyzing Data – New programs that have been introduced to improve parental involvement along with documented attendance of parent meetings will be analyzed.  These new programs include: web-based grade books that allow parents to monitor their children’s progress throughout the year, parent surveys, teacher projects, and the Alert Service communication software.  Existing programs will also be analyzed such as: student parent night, the title I parent meetings, parent participation in ARD meetings, and any other data that I can find.  By analyzing these things, we will be able to see if there has been an increase of parent participation and possibly find even more ideas to increase parental involvement.

3.  Developing Deeper Understanding – To gain a deeper understanding of this current issue, parents will be interviewed and surveyed, teachers will be interviewed and surveyed, and administration will be interviewed.  Additional data from internet and journal research will be used to compare results from other research projects that have attempted to gain parental involvement. 

4.  Self-Reflection –This research project is feasible to carry out.  Our school district has designated funding,  the data is available, and the people needed are available.  The most difficult aspect will be getting parents to participate, which is the reason for doing this project in the first place.   The district added programs last year and is has agreed to continue to add new programs in an attempt to improve this part of our school’s culture.

5.  Exploring Progmmatic Patterns – The positive aspects of increasing parental involvement throughout our school is to improve at risk students behavior, attendance, and academic progress.  Negative aspects from parental involvement could be parents trying to influence discipline policies and grading policies.  Parents may also continue to refuse to take an active role in their children’s education, or some of the things that parents suggest may not be feasible for the school district to consider.  This might push parents further away from a positive relationship with the school district.

6.  Determining Direction –

A.   Goals and objective are clear which is:  Increasing parental involvement.  This should increase student attendance, academic success, and cut down on student discipline referrals. 

B.    Skills are in place and resources are allocated.

C.    Teachers and Administrators will be discussing the issues and evaluating the results of the research project.

D.  Timeline is realistic.  Data will be analyzed from the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school year.  New programs will be added throughout this school year.

E.  The plan is going to be monitored by my site supervisors.

F.  The plan will be analyzed by the administrators, teachers, and myself to determine the levels of success our school experiences.

G.  I will revise and improve the plan throughout the year after collaborative meetings and more data has been analyzed.

7.  I am using the 7.1 template from the Harris text to help implement my inquiry.  More information will be added to this template as revisions are needed.  To see this template look in the above assignment. 

8.  All results will be summarized and reported.  That information gained will be used to continue to implement more programs that might continue to enhance parental involvement.  

 

Make Inquiry Practical

     As I dig into learning about action research or inquiry, I believe that one of the most important aspects of this journey is to make the research practical.  I have struggled with a topic for action research because I forgot this simple rule.  To help in this decision I came up with three simple questions that made this decision easier for me.  First, I asked, what am I interested in researching?  This question helped some, but because of my wide variety of interest I was still stumped.  Second, I asked, how will this research help me become a better leader?  This helped narrow the topic, because before asking this, I found myself looking for topics that others might praise or find worthy of research.  Finally, I asked, what research topic might truly help my school district?  After asking this question, I found a topic that I wanted to pursue.  What a relief.  Now I don't feel as though I am going to be doing school work.  I feel excited that I will be performing a task that will make me a better leader, provide myself and others with useful knowledge, and hopefully I will come up with some suggestions to help my school district.  My inquiry will deal with parent involvement.